14 Things That Delighted Us Last Week: From Cashmere Scraps to Kelp Pasta

“Don’t try to interpret someone else’s style or taste unless you know them intimately — chances are you might not get it right,”Bunny Williamssays. Her recommendation? Give a book of Emily Dickinson poems. “Any edition works, but there’s a Belknap Press three-volume edition that is extra special,” she says.

“Between the cold weather and the looming holidays, lighting a candle can really set the ambiance in your home,” says our writer Dominique Pariso. But if you’re overwhelmed by how many brands are releasinglimited-edition holiday candlesto fill this exact niche, she recommends starting with this pine-scented candle from Thymes that senior editor Jen Trolio calls “the best classic evergreen.”

If you find Secret Santa tedious and White Elephant unsatisfying, you might consider tryingthe Strategist Gifting Gamethis year instead. To play, each player is given three descriptors that are both specific and very much open to interpretation to make it easier for you to come up with really good gift ideas. At the end of the game, everyone votes on which present is best — this bag of jumbo chocolate boulders in the case ofthe Strategist’s test run— and the winner gets to steal a present of their choice.

In order to determine what, exactly, arethe hottest toys of 2025, Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo has spent the past several months attending toy fairs, testing the newest toy releases, and asking toy-industry experts and stylish parents about the blind boxes, toy vending machines, and interactive pets catching their eyes. The short list includes this 1,343-piece kit that lets you build a working vending machine filled with surprise balls containing LEGO Minifigures. “You can also fill the surprise balls with notes, candy, or any other small trinket,” she adds.

InChi Ossé’s eyes, the worst gift is asolelyedible one. So instead of gifting someone a treat you can eat, he recommends gifting something they can use again and again. Top of mind is this chic pool towel he received as a gift. “I never asked for a towel, but I still use it to this day,” he says.

“My apartment is limited on counter space, and I used to balance sheet trays anywhere they’d fit,” writes Strategist contributor Casey Elsass. That all changed when he discovered thisfour-tiered cooling rackthat folds down into a compact two-inch-thick bundle. When using the rack at its full height — 18-and-a-half inches — Elsass reports, “I can cool cookies fresh off the baking sheet, park a couple of steaming pies, rest cake layers in their pans, even find a safe home for a hot skillet — or any combination of those things at once (each tier can hold up to 22 pounds).”

When Strategist contributor Doree Shafrir’s tennis team made it to the Southern California sectionals, they were informed that the dress code for the occasion was, for better or worse, yellow. In scouring the tennisverse for some item of yellow tennis clothing that would be acceptable to her 12-woman team, they happened uponthis Amazon skirtthat seemed to be from an actual company (rather than “some random Amazon company with a name like “FLIBINGINCLON”). While they didn’t make it to the finals, Shafrir says, “Everyone on the team — whether they’re five-foot-one or six feet tall — looked cute. Now, months after sectionals, I’m still wearing the skirt, as are many of my teammates.”

As Strategist writer Ambar Pardilla says,cashmere bandannasare everywhere we look these days. “There’s the(capitalized) Bandanaat Guest in Residence, abrushed-wool-and-cashmere oneatBanana Republic, and another inleopard printatLe Bon Shoppe.” While the jury is still out on the source of the trend, one thing’s for certain: “It solves one cold-weather-layering problem: what to do about your scarf whennotoutside.”

As it turns out,Monica Lewinskyis in on the mahjong movement, and she can’t live without this rather pretty set. “It’s a great way to catch up with people, and it really takes all your concentration,” she told us. “I find in today’s world, with everything going on, to have something that engulfs all of your attention really is a gift.”

Just in time to remind yourself where exactly you packed away your holiday décor last year, we scoured the internet to curate as diverse an assortment of ornaments as we could manage. Among the “colorful glass balls and felted figurines, timeless motifs and timely pop-culture references, expensive collector’s items and affordable sets” onthe Strategist Christmas tree, there’s this bauble-sized tribute to Grand Central Terminal.

“Big news for fancy moms: Diaper-maker Coterie andcool-mom-endorsedclothing brand Donni have joined forces on alimited collectionof comfy clothes for moms and babies,” says our sleep writer Amelia Jerden inthis week’s installment of “Don’t Dillydally.”The collection includes these ribbed pants for moms anda similarly scalloped pair for babiesin Donni’s first foray into kids’ clothes.